Victor Sullivan wrote:Both Marshal and I suggested M's decrease to +1. I think it's a valid concern that a bonus of +2 would be too high for it's borders, territory count, position, and expansion opportunities (i.e. L - Indonesian).

-Sully

Yeh, thanks Sully, i haven't got down to bottom half of that post that why i put

... and then there's the Rail D bonus. It's a white elephant, even worse than Asia in Classic. Nobody but nobody is going to collect this bonus until the game is decided already in their favor. Yet, you already have more than enough bonuses, so splitting it up doesn't look like a good idea. You could palm some of its regions off to other rails maybe, but this would only make the other rails non-viable while not really helping Rail D significantly. In light of the fact that the number of total deployable regions on the map is a very unfavorable number, I would be inclined to recommend that you chop out some of the stations in Rail D... but that's just my first thought and any other idea that might reasonably reduce the borders of this bonus would be welcome.

As for your neutrals... they could be moved to better spots to prevent dropping bonuses. The most obvious move to me is the neutral on the F-Rail. Move it to Tblisi Station, since that's a very droppable bonus at the moment and needs a neutral. Thus two birds with one stone.

The second thing that I would do with the neutrals is to get rid of the neutral on Rail H. It's not needed... if it turns out that you need the neutral for your total region count to be a golden number, move it to Rail L.

Finally, as mentioned earlier the total number of deployable regions for this map (73 regions) is a non-golden (one might say black) number. Some adjustments need to be made to either increase or decrease it to a golden number.

-- Marshal Ney

P.S. I didn't give a rationale for my suggestions for raising or lowering the bonuses (other than Rail D), but if one compares the values between like rails, most of them are self-explanatory. Rail M is too good of a deal for +2... I think that a bonus should not be both easy and more efficient than larger bonuses; rather a small bonus should be a tradeoff (easier to take and hold, but less efficient). Otherwise it dominates the strategy disproportionately.

Here is my solution for Rail DIt's still a large bonus, but it now gives 82 regions so only to have to start neutral to get the 80 golden number.I'll get back to the other side adjustment like M shortly...need some more sleep.

P.S. I didn't give a rationale for my suggestions for raising or lowering the bonuses (other than Rail D), but if one compares the values between like rails, most of them are self-explanatory. Rail M is too good of a deal for +2... I think that a bonus should not be both easy and more efficient than larger bonuses; rather a small bonus should be a tradeoff (easier to take and hold, but less efficient). Otherwise it dominates the strategy disproportionately.

My side of the coin for Rail M being +2 is that it still have two borders to defend therefore if the player who gets that railway is to defend it, they need one each side to continue to hold it, the same with Indonesia and Japan, and it backs onto that large Southern Chinese Rail.

After digesting these figures, I have the following recommendations: Rail M bonus lowered from +2 to +1

I'd like to keep the +2

Not sure what you mean with the "and one extra border added" - do you want another border added in order to justify the bonus?

Rail G bonus raised from +2 to +3, and one extra border added

Now Rail I Arabian - Done

Rail J bonus raised from +3 to +4 and one extra border added

Now Rail L Indian - Done

Rail H bonus raised from +3 to +4

Now Rail J Iranian - Done

Rail K bonus raised from +4 to +5

Now Rail M SE Asia - Done

The second thing that I would do with the neutrals is to get rid of the neutral on Rail H. It's not needed... if it turns out that you need the neutral for your total region count to be a golden number, move it to Rail L.

I don't think there are any need for neutrals now

Finally, as mentioned earlier the total number of deployable regions for this map (73 regions) is a non-golden (one might say black) number. Some adjustments need to be made to either increase or decrease it to a golden number. -- Marshal Ney

Golden number should now be 80, i hope.

Version 12Beijing D will have to be noted as D1 and D2...not put in yet, but will adjust.Confirmed in the xml there is now 80 regions.

Version 12

Click image to enlarge.

Last edited by cairnswk on Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:43 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Victor Sullivan wrote:D to +5, F to +6... As far as BJN is concerned, I'm a little confused as to why there are two D stations.

-Sully

Sully, i thought that creating a triangle for that wouldn't look right.So i created the same as Tbilisi.so two of the sides had to be D platforms.

Fair enough, I suppose.

-Sully

I just tried it again with triangles, and the outer triangle has to be quite large (because of the acute angles) in order to fit the lilne designator in that outside space.Do you have an alternative, and is there any real problem with having it that way.

I thought it quite reasonable for a city the size of Beijing to have two stations on one line, but the naming convention would need some tweaking. The new configuration has some appeal, as it resembles a brilliant cut diamond seen in profile. With one less station in D, is it still worth 5?

ender516 wrote:I thought it quite reasonable for a city the size of Beijing to have two stations on one line, but the naming convention would need some tweaking. The new configuration has some appeal, as it resembles a brilliant cut diamond seen in profile. With one less station in D, is it still worth 5?